Yesterday I finished gathering my materials for my Gibson Girl dress. I will be using Truly Victorian’s 1893 Bell Skirt pattern (#TV292).
I am using a periwinkle blue satin for the dress. (The fabric is darker than how the photo turned out). The hem will be trimmed with an embroidered black netting lace, and I also bought some lovely appliques from Britex to use on the bodice and skirt front.
Yes, I know I should be working on my Gibson Girl dress, but as most crafters and costumers know, “Look oh shiny!” syndrome makes us easily distracted.
A while back I bought some fabric printed with hot air balloons from Spoonflower. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, but decided to do a quickie project to reduce the stash.
The skirt is just a simple gathered one, with an elastic waist and serged seams. There are no pockets (or even a lining) so this was an extremely fast make.
The capelet was a little more fiddly because I had to piece it together from the scraps of the skirt. (I used 2 yards total for this whole project). The pearly thing in the middle is a jewelry clasp.
The beautiful leather violin belt was a Christmas present from my husband. He bought it from Etsy. The blouse is vintage and the underskirt is a tiered cream cotton petticoat I made for my wedding a few years ago.
The capelet isn’t quite even so I need to make some minor tweaks. Also, I still have to figure out what sort of hat or fascinator to make. I plan to wear the ensemble to a steampunk-themed lunch outing at a ice cream bar.
My next major project is to make a Gibson Girl ensemble for an event in April. I’ve been looking at pictures from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s website, and I rather like some of the elements in this beautiful butterfly dress.
(Source http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/80093882?img=4)
In particular, I like the use of appliques, and the embroidery around the bottom of the bodice. If you look carefully there are little rhinestones scattered about.
I am not sure yet about the dress design but I knew I wanted embroidered tulle lace. I decided to buy some great lace and then find a solid-colored fabric to match, instead of the other way around. My color scheme will be baby blue, accented by black. It reminds me of Alice’s dress in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.
Fresh Frippery 